Plus One
by Rachel C. Astrid
Summary: Kevin and Jenny discuss their wedding guests—two in particular. The kind of Caskett story in which C&B are the last to know. This one-shot is a birthday present for breakawayy! Seasons 3-4.


Notes: What kind of story do you write for someone you don't know? Since breakawayy has written a few one-shots, I decided on a one-shot tribute! I've been working on multi-chapter stories lately, but I've had this OS floating around in my mind for a while and decided to write it once and for all.

A very happy birthday, breakawayy! This may not be what you had in mind when you made a general request for a fic in time for your birthday, but I do hope you like it and that your day is full of Castle and good times and most especially good Castle times.

* * *

They were exhausted.

Kevin and Jenny had been at it all night—the initial wedding plans. Newly engaged with T-minus one year until the ceremony, it was relatively early yet, and they were still in the stages of a lot of hypotheticals. But that didn't make the process any less intimidating to Kevin Ryan, especially since his fiancée wanted him to be as involved in the preparations as he was willing and able to be.

Which, if he was detecting her clues correctly so far, meant entirely involved.

Poring over the first draft of their guest list, Kevin wondered if this task was really necessary. It wasn't like the size of their venue should be an issue.

Although Kevin and Jenny first met at a bar, the Ryan and Duffy-O'Malley families had attended the same Roman Catholic Church for roughly 17 years. The fact that they hadn't crossed paths in all of that time was simply a reality of a large congregation and at least five different opportunities to attend Mass any given weekend.

But even a well-attended Mass usually left at least _a little_ wiggle room for the parishioners in attendance—except for the candlelight service on Christmas Eve, which was pretty much standing room only—and Kevin could not imagine that the number of people at their wedding ceremony could possibly rival the number of churchgoers in his parish at Christmastide.

But Jenny decided that she needed a draft, and Kevin wasn't about to wait until their wedding day to start doing everything in his power to give Jenny whatever she needed.

So he sat in the living room, the clipboard resting beside him on the sofa's sturdy arm, the pen poised for the tally. Jenny curled up on the other end of the sofa with her ankles crossed and nestled on his lap, keeping him warm.

They had finally made it through family names and onward to friends and colleagues when Kevin dutifully called out: "Kate Beckett, plus one. Richard Castle, plus one."

"No," Jenny said suddenly.

"No?" said Kevin, stunned and just a little concerned that Castle must have, at some point, said something terrible to offend Jenny.

(After all, Jenny was the sweetest, kindest, most accepting person he had ever met. Sure, Castle was now a Brother in Writer-Vest Blue, but if Jenny had any problem at all with Castle, it had to be Castle's fault.)

"No," she said again. "Count them as two."

"Who?" _Richard Castle and his alter-ego, Ego?_

"The Dynamic Duo, of course." Ah, she made it sound so simple.

Now, Kevin Ryan was as big a supporter of Kate Beckett and Rick Castle as they came. He saw something there between them and never turned down an opportunity to point out that they were completing each other's sentences or fighting like a proverbial old married couple. In either circumstance, their rhythm was a flawless display that would make any tennis pro at Wimbledon jealous.

So he only bet against them when he believed he had good reason—like the time that Castle had thoroughly infuriated Beckett by digging around her mother's case. The odds of Beckett accepting Castle back as a shadow after that hadn't looked so good. Yeah, Javier had gotten lucky and won that one. Kevin would have to win it back in another pool someday.

But now Beckett was with Josh (wait, was it proper etiquette to put the name of a known boyfriend on a friend's invitation, or would a plus-one be gracious enough?). In any case, if the guy was even in the country at the time, he'd probably want to be his girlfriend's date.

And even though Castle had called it off with Gina, and hadn't made many appearances on Page Six since the Le Cirque fiasco, that certainly didn't mean there wouldn't be a new lady in his life in one year's time. This _was_ Richard Castle they were talking about.

No, it was ridiculous to think that Mom and Dad would get back together—er, get together—let alone play Wedding Date.

Not wanting to get into all of this tonight, Kevin framed his reply as though it were merely a matter of etiquette and propriety. "But shouldn't we let them bring dates if they want?"

For all of her absence from the Twelfth, Jenny was surprisingly unwavering. "They're going to go together anyway."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Trust me. I know." She saw the terror in his eyes, though, and she swayed forward to toy with his shirt sleeve in a soothing, sympathetic motion. "But if you're worried about etiquette, we'll tell them they can bring dates anyway."

(She knew him so well.)

* * *

One year later, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan looked up from their own little table in the reception hall.

Across the room at a larger dinner table, Richard Castle pulled out a chair for Kate Beckett and said something that made her laugh. A full smile illuminated her face for the brief but beautiful moment that she let down her guard. Castle joined her at the table, and before long they were sharing both food and stories.

Jenny leaned toward Kevin's ear so he would hear her over the music. "Hubby," she said, using the term of endearment for the first time, "I have something I need to tell you."

He wrapped his arm affectionately around her shoulders, expecting nothing short of an _I love you and this is the happiest day of my life_. Still, he asked, "And what's that?"

Jenny grinned, glancing from her husband to Rick and Kate and back again. "Javier let me in on the bet. I'd like my payment in chocolate, please."


End file.
